Cue the mind explosions: Radiohead wrap up new “group of songs”

Sound the trumpets! Ring the alarms! Praise the music gods! According to a recently published essay written by Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood, that little band he plays in “have just finished another group of songs, and have begun to wonder about how to release them in a digital landscape that has changed again.” You can (and should) read the entire essay — which was written for the UK organization Index on Censorship — right here. Greenwood comments on the state of the “music marketplace” and reveals that Radiohead are “trying to find ways to put out music that feel as good as the music itself.” I recommend Greenwood talk the rest of the band into launching their new album in an atomic bomb and then exploding it onto earth, because that’s sort of what it feels like when you listen to a Radiohead album: mind explosions.

Last year, Vivian Girls won over the latest incarnation of the fuzz-pop girl band circuit with their sophomore album, Everything Goes Wrong (TMT Review), a fast-paced, jangly study of just how crappy things can get. Things have turned around now, if the cheerfully saccharine title of the forthcoming album is any indication. The Girls’ third full-length, Share the Joy, is slated for release sometime in the spring of next year, with another significant step up: a switch to Polyvinyl.

Thankfully, the split with In the Red doesn’t seem to be as bad as the breakups in their songs. Guitarist Cassie Ramone has a solo album, Zenith, lined up for release on In the Red, so they’re on speaking terms, if not already comfortable hanging out.

Now that that’s settled… dance-y, kraut-y, Athens, Georgia post-everything band Maserati are releasing their new album, Pyramid of the Sun, on November 9 via Temporary Residence. The album, which was mixed by Justin Van Der Volgen (!!!, Out Hud) and Jeremy deVine (Temporary Residence’s founding duder), features eight new tracks (including two joints with Zombi’s Steve Moore).

If you’re interested in this whole music fad thing, you can download one of those eight tracks, the instrumental jam “We Got the System to Fight the System,” over at the Pitchfork medias. If you’re like me, though, you can forget about all this download-upload-kilobits-gigawatts-buzzbin-usedbin malarkey and just turn on the soooothing sounds of sports talk radio instead (today’s HOT DEBATE? Was Derek Jeter right to fucking pretend to be hit by a pitch in Wednesday night’s game against the Rays??? Fuck, I’m calling in. Let’s see… 1-888-SAY-ESPN. Ringing…).

Oh. Also, the band is touring this fall with A.E. Paterra of Zombi on drums. Gotta go!

Pyramid of the Sun tracklisting:

01. Who Can Find the Beast?
02. Pyramid of the Sun
03. We Got the System to Fight the System
04. They’ll No More Suffer from Hunger
05. Ruins
06. They’ll No More Suffer from Thirst
07. Oaxaca
08. Bye M’Friend, Goodbye

Sage Francis collaborator, Amelie soundtrack composer, bouzouki enthusiast, and all around cool French guy Yann Tiersen has his first album for ANTI- in the works. Entitled Dust Lane and set for an October 12 release (October 4 via Mute in Europe), Tiersen’s latest release finds him rockin’ out on every instrument besides drums, including guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, banjo, toy drums, bass, and vintage analog synthesizers. The album also features vocals from Matt Elliot, who has worked with Blonde Redhead, Mogwai, Thurston Moore, and The Pastels. Elliot also lays down some spoken-word excerpts from saucy surrealist Henry Miller. Come to us, October 12, come!

“Bert is deeply disappointed to be missing the shows,” reads the official press release before saying sorry, “and [Bert] apologises sincerely to all the fans who were hoping to see him… [Bert] is looking forward to getting back on the road as soon as possible.”

That’s right, all you folk fans and people who enjoy Neil Young opening acts, Bert Jansch (who is, without a doubt, an incredibly acclaimed and important modern folk musician) has had to cancel all of his dates as opener on the Gulf Coast leg of Young’s solo tour. In addition to the dates with Neil, Jansch was also forced to cancel a series of solo shows on the East Coast. Furthermore, the folk legend has been forced to back out of a performance at this year’s Farm Aid, which Bert was “very much looking forward to.”

What caused all the hubbub and cancellations? Well, Bert has a condition known as “lung cancer” and has decided to undergo an “urgent operation to deal with complications” from said lung cancer so that he will continue living. While fans are disappointed, they definitely agree with Jansch’s assertion that staying alive is more important than playing shows. Don’t worry though, Jansch has been told by his doctors that “he should be fit and well again soon.”

Blank Dogs: so dreamy, so mysterious! Less mysterious than they once were, since Blank Dogs main man Mike Sniper no longer simply goes by Mr. Blank Dog, but there are still plenty of mysteries involved. What exactly makes those dogs so darn blank? How do you get to be both under AND under? Did he build the pyramids? When’s he putting out a new record? Well, heeeeeey, I got an answer for that last one: October 12, that’s when he’s putting out a new record! Land and Fixed, that’s what it’s called! And get this: Sniper’s own Captured Tracks label is the one putting the record out!

Sniper claims the new record is more cleanly recorded, with a focus on creating an expansive sense of space. That’s all well and good, but I’m more interested in the fact that Sniper says he holds himself to “Prince-like standards.” What higher standards can there be? None, there can be none.